Comparison

Sampletoy vs King Key

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Sampletoy

Capture and manipulate sounds using a unique musical instrument and plaything. This app allows you to record audio, then loop, pitch, and distort it live with multitouch controls. Explore creative sound design with filters, delays, and envelopes, and export your performances as high-quality audio files.

Highlights
  • Capture sounds via microphone
  • Live playback, looping, pitching, and distortion
  • Multitouch control for up to 5 notes
  • Resonant filters, delays, and envelopes
  • Stepped and free playback modes
  • Record and email performances as WAV files
  • Import audio from various sources
Features
Read full description

Sampletoy is a radical new musical instrument/plaything; part sampler, part granular synthesiser. Use it to capture sounds through the microphone, then play, loop, pitch and distort them live on the screen. There are plenty of features under the hood, such as resonant filters, delays and envelope. You can enable "stepped" mode to play your sounds like a traditional keyboard, or keep it in "free" mode for some microtonal madness. Once you've recorded a sound, use the main area of the screen to play it back at different pitches (up to 5 fingers at a time). You can crop the sound by dragging a selection over the waveform. The crop area is also multitouch and you can adjust the crop while playing the sound too. The y-axis is pitch of the sound, and the x-axis is configurable to control filters or envelope. You can record your performances on Sampletoy and send them via email within the app as a CD-quality wav file (mono or stereo) FEATURES ------- * Create your own instruments out of any sound. * Email your performances as audio files straight from the app. * Built-in resonant filters, delay and envelope. * Auto-saves current recording and state and recalls it again on next launch. * Stepped mode allows chromatic, major, minor, pentatonic and whole-tone scales to be played. * Totally multitouch - play up to 5 notes at once. * 44kHz/16bit - professional quality sound. * AudioBus3 output * Import any audio file to Sampletoy from Files, Voice memos, DropBox etc * Open non-audio files and hear what they sound like * Bluetooth / Airplay support * Built-in comprehensive manual.

About

King Key

This app provides high-quality one-shot keyboard samples, including vintage typewriters and modern synthesizers. It offers 9 instruments and 11 presets, usable as a standalone instrument or an AUv3 plugin within music production hosts.

Highlights
  • High-quality one-shot keyboard samples
  • Vintage typewriter and MIDI keyboard sounds
  • 9 instruments and 11 presets
  • AUv3 plugin compatibility
  • Standalone instrument mode
  • Proprietary high-detailed sampling techniques
Read full description

In grand celebration of International Joke Day 2024, we at Caelum used our incredibly intelligent minds to bring you our first sampler; King Key. Gone are the days when you were left begging for high quality one-shot keyboard samples, now you can get King Key. Anywhere in the world you can now play the sounds of a keyboard, on your keyboard. We also blessed you with the sounds of a MIDI keyboard, a typewriter and 4 produced kits as our generosity knows no limits. Click, Clack, Svvvvt, B-ding, cha-cuh, fshhhh. With 9 instruments and 11 presets at your finger tips you can finally be the person your parents wanted you to be, a King Key one. Using proprietary high-detailed sampling techniques, which are sadly too complex for you to understand without demonstrative play-dough, we have captured the essence and spirit of a vintage Imperial typewriter, a Modal Cobalt8X and a Generic USB keyboard. We then took these beautiful, inspirational samples and produced them into some juicy, expressive kits for your pleasure. King Key is designed as an AUv3 plugin, meaning it works within iOS and iPadOS hosts such as Logic Pro, GarageBand, Cubasis 3, AUM and Beatmaker 3. King Key also works as a standalone instrument.

Screenshots

Sampletoy4 screens
King Key2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sampletoy at Free against King Key's $1.99. Sampletoy also leads on ratings volume (104 vs 15) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.0). King Key's advantage is rating (4.9 vs 4.2) and review sentiment (100% vs 90%). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Sampletoy is free to download; King Key costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

King Key holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sampletoy has 104 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 90% of Sampletoy's written reviews are positive against 100% of King Key's.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Sampletoy versus King Key: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSampletoyKing Key
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.2 (104 ratings)4.9 (15 ratings) — better
Positive reviews89.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings104 — better15
Update frequencyEvery 7 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMazbox LimitedCaelum Audio

Customer experience

Sampletoy

All ratings104 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral10.6%
Negative14.4%
Written reviews98 reviews
Positive89.8%
Neutral4.1%
Negative6.1%

King Key

All ratings15 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Sampletoy

No in-app purchases

None

King Key

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sampletoy free?
Sampletoy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is King Key free?
King Key costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sampletoy or King Key?
King Key is rated higher. Sampletoy averages 4.2 out of 5 from 104 ratings, while King Key averages 4.9 from 15 ratings.
Do Sampletoy or King Key have ads?
Neither Sampletoy nor King Key shows ads.

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